Russell Shipbuilding Company yard, Portland, 1919

Oil painting showing the Russell Shipbuilding Company at Kensington and Berwick streets in the East Deering section of Portland, with two wooden hulls being built.

The firm had a government contract to build Ferris wooden steamships for use in World War I.

The shipyard was established about 1865 by four Russell brothers who came from Canada. At the beginning of World War I, it was called the Portland Ship Ceiling Company; the name was changed in August 1918 to Russell Shipbuilding Company.

Its offices were on Commercial Street in Portland, but the painting shows the location where ships were launched.